Volume 28 Number 2Winter 2022

COVID-19 pandemic, governmental restrictions, household arrangements, human spaces, lockdowns, psychohistory, psychology, temporary spaces

From the moment we are conceived to our last breath, we are in our own space (our bodies) and the spaces of others. This paper briefly explores how the COVID-19 pandemic has alerted us to many different perceptions of our spaces, including our bodies. How other private spaces have changed over time is also examined and compared to today.

COVID-19 pandemic, perception of reality, private space, psychoanalysis, psychohistory, public space, sacred space, virtual space, Zoom practice

This article explores issues related to the practice of psychoanalysis on Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the concepts discussed are reality vs. unreality, public vs. private space, in-person vs. virtual space, and sacred vs. secular space. Peter Petschauer’s view of body and space is mentioned as it relates to the author.

COVID-19 pandemic, fantasy, medical intrusions, psychohistory, Sigmund Freud, space flight, spatial intrusions, virtual space, workspaces

The author probes space in the different aspects of our lives and world. Some of the spaces addressed include special spaces with emotional importance, inappropriate spaces/medical intrusions, virtual spaces, and workspaces. He specifically focuses on the way spaces have changed during the pandemic as well as providing personal experiences to illustrate the importance of the home and other safe spaces.

Abe Isaac, depressive position, maternal deprivation, Melanie Klein, paranoid-schizoid position, poem, projective identification, psychohistory, splitting

boundaries of space and time, chronemics, material culture, meaning creation, memorabilia, mental space, psychohistory, psychological distance, space and time relationship, spatial modification

The interconnection of space and time is covered. Every object and living thing uses space with some better able to alter it than others. Further, the author writes about the ways we shape space to reflect our needs and our worldview, arguing that how we fill our earth reveals our need to leave selective aspects of ourselves behind. Our creations are metaphors for communicating meaning to each other and our progeny in an incomprehensible world.

COVID-19 pandemic, inner spaces, Mount Meru, poem, psychohistory

Arjun Appadurai, ethnoscapes, global connectedness, identity development, ideoscapes, lifespan development, psychobiography, psychohistory, psychology, “the other,” transcultural identity, worldwide connectedness

The article reflects upon Arjun Appadurai’s concept of “worldwide connectedness” through ethnoscapes and ideoscapes. It also analyzes their implications for shared spaces and transcultural identity development from an individual’s point of view.

Cat’s Eye, digital space, gaslighting, gender-based bullying, Margaret Atwood, mean girls, personal space, projective identification, psychohistory, psychology

Margaret Atwood’s Cat’s Eye is analyzed for its portrayal of female bullies as well as how projective identification is inflicted through bullying in both fiction and reality. The personal and digital spaces used today to foster bullying are explored in-depth as well as the methods used to bully girls, including gaslighting and discriminating against and others as well as acting aggressively toward the girls that they sense are weaker. The author believes projective identification is the foundation of bullying, which must be discussed to treat it.

COVID-19 pandemic, Delta variant, distancing, fear processing, human body, injections, maps, masks, neutrality, physical boundaries, psychohistory

Human beings have used maps since ancient times to define territories. Today maps pinpoint GPS locations, illustrate weather patterns, areas at war, and the spread or recession of COVID-19. The author argues that this readily available visual access originates with our understanding of our bodies’ borders and thus threatens many individuals.

cinema, cultural studies, fantasy analysis, film, metapsychology, prenatal development, projection of psychic content, psychogeography, psychohistory

Psychogeography shows that the way we view, describe, and build the outer world is a revival of primal experiences connected to space. Cinema can be regarded as an artistic reproduction of this elementary process. The film experience resembles the prenatal stage of our development.

abyss, crisis, history, knowledge, mise en abyme, pandemic, psychic trauma, psychohistory, science, Sigmund Freud, space boundaries

Touching on ancient works from a variety of sources, the author compares the knowledge of the past to the present. The focus of the past pieces and the current one is on space and trauma.

African American literature, children’s literature, David Barclay Moore, emotional bonds, Faith Ringgold, imagination, The Planet of Junior Brown, psychohistory, recuperative spaces, self-worth, The Stars Beneath Our Feet, Tar Beach, Virginia Hamilton

This essay examines the role that recuperative spaces play in three award-winning children’s books by African American writers: Faith Ringgold’s Tar Beach, Virginia Hamilton’s The Planet of Junior Brown, and David Barclay Moore’s The Stars Beneath Our Feet. The author shows how these spaces provide the protagonists with safe places where they can develop their imaginations, form emotional bonds with others, and cultivate a sense of self-worth.

Al Gore, American history, Donald Trump, Electoral College, Hillary Clinton, Joseph Biden, paranoia politics, psychohistory, U.S. elections

American political history, Barack Obama, conspiracies, Donald Trump, nativism, paranoid style, political liberty, politics, projection, psychohistory, racism, the radical Right

The paranoid style in American politics has a long history of ebbs and flows dating back to the revolutionary period. It has flourished once again since the onset of the 2008 Recession in our current era. This paper describes the components of the paranoid style, how it manifests among those on the Right, what conditions activate this conspiratorial style, and how it has surged during the Obama and Trump eras.

American history, followers, Ken Fuchsman, leaders, paranoia, politics, psychohistory, suspicion

American politics, Big Five personality traits, conspiracy ideation, Ken Fuchsman, paranoia, psychohistory, Psychohistory Forum, psychology, rhetorical device, Richard Hofstadter

chosen enemy, domestic policy, George W. Bush, group fantasy, group trance, historical continuities, Ken Fuchsman, paranoid style, projection, projective identification, psychohistory, U.S. foreign policy

American political history, Ken Fuchsman, Jonathan Haidt, Mark Solms, moral psychology, neuropsychoanalysis, paranoia, paranoid-schizoid position, paranoid style, psychodynamic, psychohistory, Robert Sapolsky

clinical paranoia, Donald Trump, Ken Fuchsman, mass psychosis, paranoid style, political Left, political Right, political spectrum, projection, psychohistory, psychosis, reality testing, splitting

collective self, developmental stage, freedom, “geographical solution,” Ken Fuchsman, national paranoia, paranoid phenomenon, projection, psychoanalysis, psychohistory, Westering

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Donald Trump, emotional processing, environmental destruction, fear processing, Ken Fuchsman, paranoid style, political labeling, political pathologizing, psychohistory, Turkey

adaptation, cultural recognition, Hebrew Bible, hypervigilance, mistrust, paranoia, psychohistory, religions, survival relatedness, suspiciousness, Western culture

Paranoia is a fascinating but hardly novel state of mind. Streams of unremitting doubt periodically permeate America with impunity. Moreover, mistrust has escalated beyond normal bounds to the extent that we wonder if there is an honest, straightforward foundation for anything we hear, read, or even witness. Whom and what can we trust? How firm is the foundation of a truth statement? What about the contagion of ideologies? What is the etiology of our suspiciousness? This article seeks to explore some of these questions.

Arab-Muslim immigration, collective anxiety, economic insecurity, European history, far Right, French political history, Ken Fuchsman, political distrust, psychohistory, René Kaës

American politics, conspiracy theories, delusions, mass psychosis, paranoid style, partisanship, political opponent, political polarization, political psychology, psychoanalysis, psychohistory

content analysis, DICTION software, Donald Trump, paranoid style, political rhetoric, presidential campaign, psychohistory, Richard Hofstadter

This paper explores Donald Trump’s use of the Paranoid Style. The author operationalized the Paranoid Style via DICTION software that uses 10,000 search words to do textual analysis. Comparing Trump’s rhetoric to that of all the others who ran for the presidency between 1948 and the present, he finds that Trump far surpassed his predecessors and contemporaries on the paranoid style. The author explores his other findings as well, including that ordinary Americans also use the paranoid style, making Trump both its recipient and its producer.

Only the Paranoid Succeed, paranoid beliefs, paranoid style, political adversaries, political leaders, political stereotypes, politics, psychohistory, threat exaggeration, YouTube

Paranoid beliefs are distinguished from fears of being attacked. They are not based on evidence. The paranoid style stereotypes and exaggerates threats from adversaries. A variety of examples are used, including an anecdote about the author’s patient, the book Only the Paranoid Succeed, and an attack on YouTube.

America’s paranoia, American history, fear, Indians, Native Americans, paranoia, poem, psychohistory

biography, Claude-Hélène Mayer, cultures, ethnology, family therapist, Fourth Industrial Revolution, German Episcopal Scholarship Foundation, identity, international economic organizations, interdisciplinary, interview, philosophy, political science, psychobiography, South Africa, women leaders

COVID-19, historian, Human Space, online versus in person, Peter Petschauer, psychohistory, Psychohistory Forum, psychology of space, virtual meetings

Anne Sebba, book review, David Greenglass, Ethel Rosenberg: An American Tragedy, Julius Rosenberg, mental strength, psychobiography, psychohistory, Ruth Greenglass

psychobiography, Psychobiography Research and Publication Group, psychohistory, Psychohistory Forum